IRBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan: In and of themselves, the audio recordings are scarcely newsworthy. They simply confirm what is a matter of public knowledge in Iraq: That the antipathy between two of the country’s most powerful Shiite power brokers, Nouri Al-Maliki and Muqtada Al-Sadr, is deep, and their relations with other Iraqi politicians complicated.

BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities have launched an investigation to locate a Saudi national who went missing after being lured to the country’s eastern region of Bekaa to buy a property, officials have said.

But the measures being taken to search for Hussein Al-Shammari are being kept under wraps.

Reports circulating on social media on Monday morning claimed that unidentified people had lured Al-Shammari to one of the hills of Baalbek to sell him real estate. They later kidnapped him and demanded a ransom in exchange for his release.

GAZA CITY: Palestinians stand on the sides of tanks at Al-Bahar Fish Farm, waiting to pick up sea bream to cook at home, or have gutted and grilled in the adjoining restaurant.

Al-Bahar is one of three fish farms in the Gaza Strip adjacent to the Mediterranean, which were started by Palestinian investors to meet local market needs.

The fish is farmed in special tanks containing salt or freshwater, equipped with oxygen pumps and water purification devices.

RIYADH: US special envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking is traveling to the capitals of Saudi Arabia and Jordan to continue diplomatic efforts in support of the truce in Yemen.

The trip, starting on Monday, follows US President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Jeddah during which Yemen figured prominently in discussions, the US State Department said in a statement.

“In close coordination with the UN special envoy and our regional and Yemeni partners, special envoy Lenderking will continue our efforts to help advance peace,” the statement said.

TUNIS: Hamma Al-Hammami knows the peril Tunisia risks if it slides back into autocracy, as he and opposition parties warn it may do if President Kais Saied passes his draft constitution in a referendum on Monday.
Hammami, a leftist political leader, was repeatedly imprisoned and tortured from 1972 until the 2011 revolution that brought democracy to Tunisia — a moment he experienced from inside an Interior Ministry cell hearing the crowd roar outside.